How to write a pitch email that will land you that collab

It took me forever to realize that I could reach out to companies. I figured, if they want to work with me, they’ll come to me first but that’s not the world we live in anymore. There are hundreds of thousands of influencers out there and it’s hard to be seen by your dream company (and be careful of fake collaboration proposals!)

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But that doesn’t mean you won’t get your shot – it means you need to go on the offensive and pitch yourself to them.

When I started, I had no idea how to do this! It took many attempts and lots of research before I discovered the winning pitch. I’m here to share those secrets with you.

First, do your research.

This is one of the most important steps that I feel many people forget or don’t take the time to do. Companies receive hundreds, if not thousands of emails every day with collaboration requests. If you are going to be one of those emails, then you need to sell why YOU should be chosen over the rest. Get to know the company and tell them specific reasons why you would do the best for their brand and also why their brand stuck out to you!

Keep it concise.

Like I said above, companies receive tons of emails. The last thing they want is to open an email to see paragraphs that they have to sift through. That’s a quick way to put your email in the trash. As a marketing professional, companies want to see that you’re able to sell your pitch in a few sentences. This will take practice, but it’s a great skill to have in all aspects of life!

Be yourself.

Of course, you always want to be professional in your emails but that doesn’t mean you have to keep out your personality. Find ways to incorporate who you are throughout, so they get to know you and your brand. This could be as simple as the way you sign off on an email or you could add a fun fact about yourself! Make it you. They don’t want someone that acts and sounds like everyone else.

Send a follow up email.

If you haven’t heard back in a week, make sure you follow up with them. It is important to express your continued interest in the company. They might have forgotten to respond, missed the first email or had doubts at first and the follow up email could change their mind.

Keep a draft of your pitch and follow up emails.

This makes it easy across the board. It gives you a template to always fall back on and puts it in a place you’ll be able to find quickly. BUT again, do not just copy and paste! Make it unique to the company.

Keep a spreadsheet.

This takes a bit more work at the beginning but will help you in the long run. I color code who I have and have not heard back from, who I initially heard from but then lost contact with, who agreed to collaborate with me and what the agreements were, etc. It helps keep organization with all of the collaborations you’re going to be scoring!

Include your Media Kit.

A Media Kit is a document that influencers, businesses and media outlets use to pitch to others. It includes a short blurb about who you are + why you do what you do, what social media you use + what services you offer, details about your engagement rate + audience demographics, a list of previous collaborations (it’s okay if you don’t have any yet) and how they can contact you. Make this document fun (include personality) but also keep it simple to understand and easy to read!

I design custom media kits, so please contact me if interested!

Know your value.

Hands down the most important thing when sending a pitch email is to remember your worth. You are a business and you have people that come to you out of millions for advice in your niche. That is incredible! If you don’t believe in what you can bring to the table, no other company is going to buy it either. It’s scary sending that pitch and facing rejection (and you won’t land them all) but there is a reason you’re reading this now! It’s time to start getting out there.

BONUS TIP: Always start with emailing the company but if you can’t seem to get in touch with them through email, you can always express your interest through social media. After all, that is the platform in which you are trying to work with them!

Good luck to all of you! Please let me know how it goes and as always, never be afraid to reach out! If you have any comments, suggestions, questions or concerns, drop them below!

Xo,
Gina